Attitudes

Sex-positive parenting.

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From the Huffington Post:

This Is What Sex-Positive Parenting Really Looks Like By Lea Grover

[…]

I'm what some people call "sex-positive." That doesn't mean I talk with my 4-year-olds about how great sex is and how good it feels. It means I don't pretend it's something other than it is.

As parents, we lie all the time. About the Easter Bunny or Santa or the Tooth Fairy, about how long 10 minutes is, about whether or not we remembered they wanted to have grilled cheese for dinner again... We lie a lot. But one thing I never lie about is sex.

I don't want them to grow up ashamed of their bodies or confused about what they do. I don't tell them about cabbage patches or storks; I make an effort, always, to be honest about human reproduction. Every aspect of it.

[…]

Because lying to your kids about sex helps nobody. Telling them that sex is "only between mommies and daddies" is a lie that leads to confused, hormone-charged teenagers. Telling them that sex is "only something that happens when two people love each other very much" is a lie that causes hormone-charged teenagers to confuse "love" with "lust," or "obsession." It leads to leaps of logic like, "If I have sex with this person, we must be in love." Or worse: "If I love this person, I have to have sex with him or her." And how many teenage tragedies are based on that misconception?

The truth is that human beings, almost universally, like sex. It feels good. And it's supposed to feel good. If it didn't, the human race would die out. The truth is that sex isn't special and magical just because it's sex. The truth is that you can have spectacular sex with strangers whose names you don't even know. The truth is that just because you can, that doesn't necessarily mean you should.

And that's what sex-positive parenting really is. Not telling my kids lies about sex to keep them from behaviors I don't think are healthy. It's telling them the truth, the whole truth, and letting it sink in so they can make their own good choices.

Go read the rest here - it's a great piece.

Sexual orientation, choice, and allies.

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 From UpWorthy:

Gay People Made A Straight Man Cry With Their Response To The Question 'Is Being Gay A Choice?' by George Takei

I have always maintained that the fight for LGBT equality can only be won with the help of our straight allies, and this is a noble and fine example. This vlogger (who is straight) changed the life of one young gay man whose own parents not only rejected him when he came out, but subjected him to horrific verbal and physical abuse before tossing him out of his home. The incident brought the vlogger to tears, and his heroic and heartfelt response brought me to them in turn.

Hearts and minds are changed one person at a time. But this shows that one person with his heart in the right place really can make a big difference.

And the clip:

Original Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1df_i26wh-w Help - http://www.trevorproject.org Yesterday's Vid - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiOx2YJeePM Support my Patreon - http://www.patreon.com/TeamThompson http://www.instagram.com/SupRicky06 http://www.facebook.com/SupDailyCrew Google+ - http://bit.ly/RickyGooglePlus Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/supdaily06

During the section on sexual orientation and identity, we'll be talking about the issue of choice, and what it might mean (it may not be as black and white as it seems).

Straight men prefer some muff.

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From the Daily Mail Online:

When it comes to 'ladyscaping' the Brazilian and the Hollywood are old news as it is revealed that men prefer a more natural look
  • Just 12% admitted to liking the Hollywood where all hair is removed
  • Most popular was the 'Bermuda triangle' - a neat, trimmed style
  • Least liked was the 'G Wax' which leaves a small square of hair

For years women have been convinced that porn star style waxing and vajazzles are the quickest way to impress their other halves in bed, with nearly two thirds saying that their look down below is calculated to please their man.

But it appears that it's time to wave goodbye to painful waxing for good, after a new survey found that men actually prefer a natural look.

According to the poll, which canvassed 1,000 men, the most popular look is is 'trimmed and tidy' – a far cry from the Hollywood, which involves having all hair removed.

Nearly half (43 per cent) of those who took part in the survey, which was commissioned by waxing brand, Nads, said they preferred their women to look as natural as possible but with a 'Bermuda triangle' - trimmed hair and waxed edges leaving no bikini hair overspill.

17 per cent plumped for the Brazilian, a landing strip of pubic hair, while 15 per cent liked the heart shaped 'Heart Breaker'.

Just 12 per cent chose the full Hollywood, with most men saying they preferred their women to have some hair 'down there'.

The style that men hated the most was the 'G Wax' – a closely trimmed small square of hair that most felt looked a bit silly and a bit of a turn off.

Among the men who took part in the poll was Sidcup father of two, Mark Tailworth, who said: 'I’d hate my wife not to have some hair, I much prefer her to be well trimmed than sporting some ridiculous, unsexy design.'

Others, including 27-year-old Daniel Smith from Essex, said that they did enjoy seeing the odd Hollywood or vajazzle on their girlfriends.

'I like it interesting - like unwrapping a present and finding a surprise,' said Daniel. 'I do prefer some hair so a design like the landing strip or heart shape is good for me and no surprise, vajazzling is popular in our town.'

Nads CEO Sue Ismiel said: 'Pubic hair styles are fast becoming just as important as the hair on your head.

'Popular designs for women and it seems men are the landing strip, heart shape and triangle patch indicating some hair is sexier to sport than "the all-off". But make sure you know what you’re doing as once styling begins there is no turning back.'

Evangelical Christians softening stance on gay marriage.

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From Politico Magazine:

Evangelicals Are Changing Their Minds on Gay Marriage And the Bible isn’t getting in their way. By Jim Hinch

Amy Tincher is an evangelical Christian who plays bass in the band at her suburban Ohio church, where she and her fellow congregants firmly believe the “words we adhere to” are those in the Bible. But last summer, without telling her husband and two kids exactly what she was doing, she boarded a plane for a conference in Kansas whose purpose many evangelicals would plainly consider heretical.

Tincher was one of 50 people flown from around the country and the world—Canada, China, Nigeria and South Korea—to a four-day Bible boot camp dedicated to discussing, and embracing, gay relationships. The gathering was organized by Matthew Vines, who by then was enjoying modest fame for a 2012 YouTube video in which Vines, looking even younger than his 21 years, delivers an hour-long lecture arguing that the Bible does not, in fact, condemn all same-sex relationships. The video has gone viral, racking up more than 730,000 views to date, landing Vines on the cover of the New York Times Sunday Styles section and helping him raise $100,000 for the conference, where he launched The Reformation Project, a nationwide network of pro-gay evangelicals committed to ending their church’s longstanding hostility toward gay people.

Tincher told me she had once “tried on” an anti-gay attitude to fit in with her conservative community in Liberty Township, outside Cincinnati, but like many evangelicals, she struggled to see how homophobia could accord with an all-loving Christian God. So when her pastor sent her a link to Vines’ video, she recalls, “I remember sitting in my kitchen and just crying. I knew it in my heart, but I had never been told that from the pulpit.”

It’s no secret that attitudes toward same-sex relations have changed in this country: Gay marriage is legal in 19 states plus the District of Columbia, and all major public opinion surveys now show a majority of Americans are in favor of it. But Matthew Vines and Amy Tincher are no longer outliers either: Increasingly, even evangelical Christians, long known for doctrinally condemning homosexuality, are embracing gay people, too.

Read the rest here.

And the video clip of Mathew Vine, outlining how the bible does not forbid homosexuality:

My book, "God and the Gay Christian," is now in stores. Order it here: http://www.amazon.com/God-Gay-Christian-Biblical-Relationships/dp/1601425163/ Sign up for The Reformation Project here: http://www.reformationproject.org. Matthew Vines speaks on the theological debate regarding the Bible and the role of gay Christians in the church. Delivered at College Hill United Methodist Church in Wichita, Kansas on March 8, 2012.


Rev Bev Talks Kink.

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Generally speaking, increased religiosity is associated with more conservative (and often negative) attitudes about sex. But, there is huge variation within religions when it comes to attitudes towards sex. As an example, Rev Bev is an ordained clergy in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) who offers very sex positive sex advice and information (check out her website here). This is a clip of her discussing BDSM: 

Rev Dr Beverly Dale explores various moral guidelines for a wide variety of sexual practices.She does this in a non-judgmental way and with a sense of humor! Watch out! Rev Bev has served as a church pastor and a campus minister at the University of Pennsylvania and is an ordained clergy in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

You can check out the rest of her video clips on her YouTube channel, here. Apparently, there is no topic she is not willing to discuss.

Gail Dines on porn, feminism, and capitalism.

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I don't post much on anti-pornography advocates and their research, as many consider it unreliable (i.e., lacking scientific rigour) and overwhelmingly biased. However, I believe it's still important to acknowledge their work, as it does feature prominently in the debate about access to, and regulation of, pornography. Also, some of their criticisms are valid.

Gail Dines is arguably the leading anti-pornography campaigner and academic of the current generation. Her research and writing is celebrated by anti-pornography advocates, but has also been sharply criticized by many working in the field. The following snippets are from an article about her and her work, published by the Guardian:

"Porn culture doesn't only affect men. It also changes "the way women and girls think about their bodies, their sexuality and their relationships," says Dines. "Every group that has fought for liberation understands that media images are part and parcel of the systematic dehumanisation of an oppressed group . . . The more porn images filter into mainstream culture, the more girls and women are stripped of full human status and reduced to sex objects. This has a terrible effect on girls' sexual identity because it robs them of their own sexual desire."

[...]

"To think that so many men hate women to the degree that they can get aroused by such vile images is quite profound," says Dines. "Pornography is the perfect propaganda piece for patriarchy. In nothing else is their hatred of us quite as clear."

[...]

As a result of her research, Dines believes that pornography is driving men to commit particular acts of violence towards women. "I am not saying that a man reads porn and goes out to rape," she says, "but what I do know is that porn gives permission to its consumers to treat women as they are treated in porn."

The rest of the article, including much more discussion of Gail Dines and her views, can be found here.

New female empowerment action figures: IAmElemental.

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From their Kickstarter page:

IAmElemental Action Figures for Girls

IAmElemental Action Figures for Girls were designed to accomplish three goals.

MORE HEROINE, LESS HOOTERS

First, they are intended to be a positive and fierce re-interpretation of the traditional female action figure.

After scouring toy stores in search of action figures that are appropriate toys for young girls, we discovered that the typical female action figure on the market today is not actually designed for girls at all (or even boys). Instead, most are created for the adult male collector, decidedly more Hooters than Heroine.

We set out to design a series of figures with healthier breast, waist and hip ratios; fierce, strong females worthy of an active, save-the-world storyline that fosters creativity in kids.

IT'S CHARACTER, NOT CHARACTERS

Second, IAmElemental action figures encourage girls to reinvent the superhero myth by creating their own empowering stories. In the traditional, male-dominated superhero universe, action figures are endowed with powers from without (via a spider bite, mutant DNA, or some sort of "accident"). In the IAmElemental universe, the girl herself is the superhero - and she has all the superpowers she will ever need already inside of her.

We have converted the Periodic Table of Elements into "The Elements of Power," and we will unveil these powers, series by series, one after the other.

The first series, available first on Kickstarter, is the Courage Series.

The Elemental parts of COURAGE:

Using Joan of Arc as our Muse (because real heroes walk among us), each figure in the series is the personification of one of the Elemental Powers - and we are talking Superpowers.
Bravery, for example, is defined as not shrinking from challenge or difficulty, and her Superpower is the ability to create a protective force field around herself and others.
Magic and fantasy are critical elements of both imaginative play, and daily life. If you want the extraordinary to happen, you have to believe in the impossible.
We live in a world where product tie-ins are a de facto part of the average media marketing plan, and children are spoon-fed a perfectly-packaged storyline with the purchase of every action figure. Yet, we fervently believe that girls (and boys) are not only capable of creating their own stories, but that story creation is a vital part of their emotional development.
Why live vicariously through someone else? Why not be a real, live Superhero?
PLAY WITH POWER
Third, we set out to create a toy that is super fun to play with and collect. We knew from the outset that if the figures weren't well-designed, nothing else would matter.
So, we spent months carefully considering every aspect of the process, working collaboratively with the amazing team at EleventyPlex, in order to ensure that we ended up with the best 4-inch articulated action figure possible.

Go check out the rest of the photos and a video here.

They were hoping to raise $35,000 and they ended up with almost $163,000. Clearly this idea is well-supported.

(Art) Project: Beautiful Agony.

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From Vice:

Coming on Camera: Beautiful Agony's Orgasmic Porn By Rula Al-Nasrawi

[…]

That project is Beautiful Agony—also called “Facettes de La Petite Mort.” It’s an Australia-based erotic website that posts daily videos of people masturbating until they orgasm. The twist is that the videos are only filmed from the shoulders up, so all you see is a succession of O-faces. The videos are basically webcam versions of Andy Warhol’s experimental “Blow Job” short film. Anyone from a DDD-cup porn star to your 95-year-old granddad can submit a video of themselves getting their rocks off. The videos range from one-man shows to group circle jerks, but you never see what’s going on down below. The name “Beautiful Agony” speaks to the almost painful tension you feel right before you come, followed by a zen-like state. The beauty lies in watching people of all walks of life momentarily lose control in the best way.

[…]

Founded by Richard Lawrence and Lauren Olney in 2004, Beautiful Agony hasn’t changed a lot since its inception. The site still has an old Windows 90-something look to it. The only difference between now and its debut is the long list of monthly subscriptions Lawrence and Olney have collected over the years. Pay $15 and you have access to hundreds of videos of people finishing themselves off, and confessing their innermost sexual secrets, for a month. Pay $100 and you’ve got access for the entire year.

Lawrence told me over Skype that the site was essentially born out of the duo’s frustration with mainstream porn.

“If we were to sort of parallel the porn industry with the car industry and imagine what a car looked like if it had the same values and the same sort of commitment to excellence that porn has, I think that you’d be looking at a piece of junk that costs $3 million that would run out of petrol after three miles.”

So Lawrence and Olney took matters into their own hands.

“We said, ‘Why don’t we try this and see what happens?’” Lawrence said. “I think we were a little too embarrassed to film our own [videos] and show each other, so instead we just lent a video camera around to some friends of ours that we knew were open-minded.”

[…]

Along with erotic projects like Hysterical Literature (photographer Clayton Cubitt's video series of women reading literature at a desk, while being pleasured underneath the table) and MakeLoveNotPorn.TV (a site where regular people submit their own sex videos for online rental), Beautiful Agony is pioneering a shift in the porn industry away from the male gaze.

“[Beautiful Agony] is something that fits right in with what has been kind of evolving over the last 10 years with the feminist porn movement internationally,” said Mireille Miller-Young, a professor of feminist studies at UC Santa Barbara. “It’s implicit critique is that the graphic display of pornography doesn’t necessarily equal pleasure for the viewer or the performer, and that you could possibly have something that’s less graphic or a more confined view."

Read the rest of the article here.

Homepage here.

And their videos on Vimeo here.

Video collage:


Video: My Gynaecomastia and Me.

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From Metro:

Man with ‘man boobs’ posts brave video (and the internet loves him)

Sometimes, just sometimes, the internet is a beautiful place.

When a young man posted a thread on Reddit saying that he was considering suicide because of his ‘man boobs’, Christopher Pineda decided it was time to step in.

Like the man who posted the Reddit thread, Chris suffers from gynaecomastia, a condition that causes boys’ and men’s breasts to grown larger than normal.

Posting a reply on Reddit, Chris wrote: ‘Hey there, I just want to tell you that it’s okay to feel the way you do. You’re not wrong in feeling the way you do, it’s only natural given the problem we’re facing. It’s difficult and I’ve felt the same way, and still do at times.’

He went on to direct the man to a video he’d made, ‘to help empower myself and others.’

The video shows Chris, topless, standing in front of a mirror.

Touchingly, he starts the video: ‘Sorry if I offend you, there is a good purpose to this video.’

He then goes on to explain that although living with gynaecomastia is hard, it’s definitely not worth ending your life over: ‘It hasn’t made my life easy as you can imagine. I’m not depressed, not at all. Yes, I’m sad, but not depressed. What I am, however, is very frustrated, I am frustrated with the cards that I have been dealt.’

He ends the video by reaching out to the Reddit user saying: ‘so yeah, if you have any questions, you wanna talk to me about your gynaecomastia, things you’ve been through…talk to me, I’m here.’

The best part of this story however is the overwhelming support Chris has been shown since posting his video. Yes, unfortunately (and predictably) there have been some nasty comments, but the vast majority have been supportive.

In fact, the response has been so positive that Chris has launched a fund to try and raise the money he needs for surgery.

Go Chris! Go internet!

And the video (turn captions 'off', if they annoy you):

Vine app: @ahoychrispineda INSTAGRAM: http://www.instagram.com/ahoychrispineda FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/ahoychrispineda TWITTER: http://www.twitter.com/ahoychrispineda TUMBLR: http://www.ahoychrispineda.tumblr.com *UPDATE: 7/23/2013" I need your help! I need your retweet, reblog, and share. I've monetized my video "My Gynecomastia and Me" to help raise funds for reconstructive surgery. The more views the video gets, the better chance I have of getting the surgery I need.


Online dating partner preferences.

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Online dating statistics reveal users still have racial biases. Post to Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1erBRaA Like BuzzFeedVideo on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1ilcE7k Post to Twitter: http://bit.ly/1erBSew Sources: http://www.ayi.com/dating-blog/online-dating-ethnicity-racial-preference-interracial-dating-ayi/ http://qz.com/149342/the-uncomfortable-racial-preferences-revealed-by-online-dating/ http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/your-race-affects-whether-people-write-you-back/ http://healthland.time.com/2013/11/04/hope-for-online-dating-study-shows-its-less-segregated/ http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/facebook-data-reveals-how-weirdly-racist-we-are-when-it-come Music: Kauf - "Relocate" (Psychemagik Remix feat.

Virgin births.

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From Reuters:

Claims of virgin births in U.S. near 1 percent: study By Sharon Begley

Nearly 1 percent of young women in a U.S. study who have become pregnant claim to have done so as virgins, according to a report in the Christmas edition of Britain's BMJ medical journal.

The authors of "Like a virgin (mother)" - whose prose is devoid of irony - say such scientifically impossible claims show researchers must use care in interpreting self-reported behavior. Fallible memory, beliefs and wishes can cause people to err in what they tell scientists.

Based on interviews with 7,870 women and girls ages 15 to 28, 45 of the 5,340 pregnancies in this group through the years - 0.8 percent - occurred in women who reported that they conceived independent of men. The figure does not include pregnancies that result from in vitro fertilization or other assisted reproductive technology.

Each year, the BMJ Christmas edition publishes untraditional science papers. In addition to the report on virgin pregnancies, the latest BMJ includes papers on whether there is a local baby boom nine months after home sports teams triumph (only a small one, but statistically significant) and whether an apple a day would keep the British doctor away (yes, saving about 8,500 lives in the United Kingdom each year, about as many as would expanding the use of cholesterol-lowering drugs to everyone over 50).

For the study of putative virgin pregnancies, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill analyzed data from the thousands of teenage girls and young women who took part in the long-running National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.

The girls were 12 to 18 years old when they entered the study in the 1994-95 school year and were interviewed periodically about their health and behavior over 14 years, including via computer as a way to encourage them to be candid when answering questions about their sexual history.

The 45 women and girls who became pregnant despite, according to what they told interviewers, being virgins at the time of conception differed in several ways from peers who acknowledged that men had had a role in their procreation.

Of those who said they became pregnant as virgins, 31 percent also said they had signed chastity pledges; 15 percent of nonvirgins who became pregnant said they had signed such pledges, in which a girl vows not to have sex until she marries.

The 45 self-described virgins who reported having become pregnant and the 36 who gave birth were also more likely than nonvirgins to say their parents never or rarely talked to them about sex and birth control. About 28 percent of the "virgin" mothers' parents (who were also interviewed) indicated they didn't have enough knowledge to discuss sex and contraception with their daughters, compared to 5 percent of the parents of girls who became pregnant and said they had had intercourse.

The ostensibly chaste mothers were also less likely to know how to use condoms, according to the report. UNC biostatistician Amy Herring and public health expert Carolyn Halpern led the group.

The researchers found that although the mothers in question were more likely to have boys than girls, and to be pregnant during the weeks leading up to Christmas, neither similarity to the Virgin Mary was statistically significant.

Interview: Dr. Zhana Vrangalova on casual sex.

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From Salon:

Casual sex isn’t just for college kids The creators of the Casual Sex Project collected hookup stories from around the world. Here's what they learned By Tracy Clark-Flory

Guess what! Hookups are not just for college students. In other news: Young people didn’t invent sex. You wouldn’t know any of that from the media coverage of casual sex, which invariably focuses on the carnal aerobics of hot young keg-standing coeds. Nor could you tell it from scientific papers on the topic, which, like so much research, rely on collegiate samples. Zhana Vrangalova, herself a sex researcher, is changing that perception with the Casual Sex Project, a website that solicits true hookup stories from people of all ages and from around the world.

These flings are not set in dorm rooms, frat houses or university libraries. Among the responses Vrangalova has collected thus far, there’s a threesome outdoors in the countryside, impromptu sex next to a headless stuffed sheep, a tryst at a swinger’s club in Manhattan and a “happy ending” at a massage parlor. There are also more prosaic flings in bed and, of course, in the back of a car. There is awful sex, glorious multiple orgasming, and one experience that sounds like sexual assault (and yet the woman writes that “it was so hot”). Sex is had sober, drunk, stoned and high on coke. There is BDSM, infidelity and bittersweet ex-sex (“He felt his way around my body, and I let my hands remember all that they once loved to hold”).

Some descriptions are erotic: “Rubbing my neck, holding my hand, slipping his fingers in and out of the sleeves and neckline of my shirt. Dipping a few times into the edges of my bra.” Some are schoolgirl gushy: “He grabbed me and kissed me and my head exploded. BEST. KISS. EVER.” And of course, this being sex, there is plenty of humor, too: “I’m panting and looking at her smiling while she out of nowhere grabs some moisture off her vagina and brings it up and anoints it across my forehead while saying ‘siiimmmba,’” writes one man. (The “Lion King” reference was apropos of nothing, making it all the better.)

Vrangalova, who has conducted plenty of for-reals scientific research on hookup culture, spoke with Salon about what makes a casual sex seeker, why women regret hookups more than men, and who benefits most from hookups.

[…]

What have you learned so far about people’s casual sex experiences?

That there is an incredible diversity of hookup experiences in terms of what counts as casual sex — from one-night stands, to sex with an ex, to paid sex, online sex — the quality of the experience — from that hookup being the best sex they’ve ever had to it being the worst sex they’ve ever had — the transformative power of the hookup — from opening their minds and bodies to enjoying sex more freely to making it painfully clear to them that sex without love is not for them. Some people have only had one single hookup and they remember it 20 years later, others hook up on a regular basis; some cheat on their partners, others have group sex sanctioned by or together with their partners. The variety is really astonishing.

Read the rest of the interview here.

Women see their vaginas for the first time.

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The YouTuber is DaveyWavey, who has made a slew of hilarious and informative videos, almost exclusively related to sex.

Subscribe to Davey! ♥ http://bit.ly/1gpkiJ5 Watch more reaction videos: http://bit.ly/1kkCqEB A special thanks to the brave women who participated in this video. Sharing their stories and being a part of this project took a lot of courage. And a big thank you to the many women who participated in this project but whose stories didn't make it into this cut of the video.


Victoria, BC really likes sex toys.

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From Vice:

Why do the residents of Victoria, B.C. buy more sex toys than any other place in Canada? By Sarah Berman

Let me just get out in front of this and say it: I don’t think Victorians are dramatically kinkier than the rest of us.

Not any more, anyway. When I first read that Victoria, BC had been ranked the highest per-capita consumer of sex toys, I assumed the islanders were in on some sex secret the rest of Canada had yet to discover. Balloons, maybe? Showerhead orgies on acid? I really wasn’t sure.

After hanging around a couple sex shops and chatting with a few industry wonks, though, I’ve come to understand Victoria’s higher-than-average dildo acquisition is a product of demographics and maybe weather. As one of the most elderly cities in the country—like, 113th birthday party elderly—there are naturally some folks seeking to rectify (ha) legit plumbing issues. At one sex shop I visited, couples as old as 96 and 98 have dropped in searching of means to keep their tickle trunks twiddled.

But when I tell another sex shop owner the good news, Christine Page is genuinely surprised. She says in-person sex shops have taken a hit—a few in Victoria have closed recently—which is why she’s diversifying into Eyes Wide Shut masks and rave gear. This trend is a shame, Page said, because knockoff Fleshlights are too rampant online—which are totally not worth it, apparently. (I felt this was a PSA worth sharing. You’re welcome.)

Women also outnumber men in Victoria, making vibrating anythings an alternative—if not a necessity—for boring heteros. Yes, I hate myself for even writing that—but this fact and framing was repeatedly pointed out to me, often accompanied by hyperbolic stats like “there’s three women for every man in Victoria.”

“I have heard over the years so many complaints from women age 19 to 70,” said Page, “no single men in Victoria.” I looked at 2011 census data, and it’s more like five women to every four men. There are 22 percent more unattached women than men, a surplus of 14,000-ish single ladies. This phenomenon has a disappointing Urban Dictionary entry: Chicktoria.

The constant, unrelenting February rain also keeps the toy business chugging/pumping/whatever semi-gross metaphor you prefer: “Our high spot for selling toy stuff is the winter compared to summer,” Page said. “In the summer people are out hiking and doing stuff, but this time of year it’s quite rainy and gloomy, the weather.” A Netflix account can only get you so far on days when it’s too miserable outside to leave the house. Victorians make sure to stock up for the season.

Read the rest here.

Some straight men respond to Grindr.

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For those who aren't familiar with Grindr, from their website:

Grindr is a simple app that uses your mobile device’s location-based services to show you the guys closest to you who are also on Grindr. How much of your info they see is entirely your call.

While it's described as a social-media app, it's primarily used by men looking to hook up for sex with other men. There's a version for opposite sex partners called Tindr, but it's a little more subtle, at least on the hooking-up-for-sex front.

A YouTube regular, Neil McNeil, asked a bunch of his straight friends what they thought of Grindr, and here's the result:

Urban Dictionary defines Grindr as a "location based iPhone/iTouch App for gay, bi, and curious men to meet", but most people assume that gay men use it just to hook up. Watch these nine straight guys scroll through the infamous app to see what's really down the rabbit hole.